Summary: Creative insights happen when your brain shifts into a relaxed state, allowing new connections to form before suddenly clicking into clarity. By reducing pressure and trusting your intuition, you can trigger “Aha” moments more frequently. The key is learning to work with your brain, not against it, to unlock better ideas and solutions.

How Do You Boost Creativity and Innovation?

Do you ever wonder why the best ideas come to you when you’re taking a shower, driving, or taking a walk? It’s not a coincidence – it’s neuroscience. Once you understand how Aha moments are created in the brain, you can make them happen whenever you want. So, what can you do to harness and hone that skill?

Creativity and innovation are all about making connections. It’s about seeing patterns emerge or perhaps recalling previous experiences and seeing how they relate to the problem at hand. When you’re having that sudden flash of insight (an “Aha!” moment) a specific area of the brain lights up and comes fully on board: your anterior superior temporal gyrus (aSTG), located just above your ear. This region becomes fired up during moments of creative insight, and we can actually measure this activity through specific brainwave patterns.

When it comes to creativity and insight, two of your brain’s frequencies are most important: alpha waves (8-12 Hz) and gamma waves (30-100 Hz). To really unlock your creative potential, you need to understand how these two frequencies work together.

What Happens In Your Brain When You Relax?

Alpha Waves: the Key to Getting Into Flow

Alpha waves are a sign of deep relaxation in the brain, and are your brain’s way of moving into a relaxed awareness. They note that your brain has diverted from “intentional” or “goal-oriented” thoughts towards relaxed focus. When these alpha waves increase, beta waves/frequencies (associated with intense, focused attention) decrease. It’s like turning down a harsh, bright light in the brain and putting on some softer mood lighting; it creates a gentler environment for your brain to make connections (aka. creativity and insight). It’s because of this shift to alpha waves that your best ideas seem to come during a relaxing bath, a long walk, or just before you fall asleep. Interestingly, once these creative, Aha! moments happen, the alpha waves in your brain are followed by gamma waves, which are the fastest ones that we can measure!

How Does Your Brain Solve Problems Suddenly?

Gamma Waves: Creating Moments of Insight

When people have a creative insight, alpha is followed by gamma. Alpha waves set the stage, but gamma waves are the stars of the show. These high-frequency waves happen in fast, powerful bursts when your brain has moments of insight. Gamma waves shine a spotlight on the unusual connections that previously were not able to be seen. They literally connect the dots*.

*Research has shown that just 300 milliseconds before people solve insight problems, there’s a burst of gamma waves in the right hemisphere. This gamma burst quite literally represents the moment when previously unconnected pieces of information suddenly click together to form a solution! How cool is that?

What Helps You Be More Creative?

How can you increase the likelihood of this alpha-gamma combo? There are 5 things that you can do to help create Aha! moments on demand, and they’re not as complicated as you might think.

Increase your chances of creative insight by:

Make the “problem” fun. If you are happy, laughing, or just overall in a more relaxed state, your brain is more likely to produce the alpha waves that you need for creative insights. Problems can be frustrating, but solving them doesn’t need to be boring. Find a way to bring levity to the situation, and you will likely arrive at the solutions a lot faster.
Throw away the box. It’s not a matter of “thinking outside the box”; you need to move away from it entirely. Strict rules, structure, and steps to follow are antithetical to letting creativity flow. Give your brain space to view the problem from all angles to find a solution – not just the ones that are outlined for you.
Shift gears and take a break. When you focus too intently on one issue, you essentially block off the rest of your brain and stifle other areas of creativity. Sometimes the best thing that you can do when you are struggling to come up with a solution is to step away, give yourself a little dance break (or walk, or jumping jacks… anything!), and then come back with a fresh set of eyes. If you’re unsure why this might work – refer to point 1. above.
Listen to yourself. “Gut feelings” are your intuition trying to tell you something – listen to them. We mentioned that creativity is all about making connections, and that’s exactly what your intuition is doing when it signals to you something is right or wrong. It is picking up on patterns. Being in quiet, calm environments can help with being able to notice these inputs, so you are not going to be your most creative self somewhere chaotic!
Hold your tongue. Of course, you will eventually need to share your insights with others, but try to keep them to yourself at first. Verbal problem solving is no better than an analytical approach, and having a bunch of other voices inputting their ideas can actually crowd out your brain’s ability to have those Aha moments.

Why Is Problem Solving Important?

There is not a person in this world whose career or personal life will never call for a bit of creative problem solving. New and challenging situations are always going to occur; such is the beauty of life. That’s why understanding the neuroscience behind creating moments of creativity and insight can be such a powerful tool. If you want to be able to face those challenges head-on, and feel more comfortable reflecting on solutions for them, then these 5 tips to create moments of creative insight are sure to set you on the right track.

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About the Author

Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Neuroscientist. Keynote speaker.

Friederike Fabritius is a neuroscientist, Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and keynote speaker who translates cutting-edge brain science into actionable leadership strategies for Fortune 500 organizations. Author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller The Brain-Friendly Workplace and the award-winning The Leading Brain, Friederike is recognized as a trailblazer in neuroleadership, helping executives think sharper, innovate faster, and lead through complexity. A LinkedIn Top Voice who is quoted frequently in the media, Friederike has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Newsweek, among many others. Friederike has built a community of over 50k professionals through her LinkedIn audience and “The Brain-Friendly Newsletter”.

Friederike consistently earns speaker ratings of 4.9 out of 5 and Net Promoter Scores over 90%. Her outstanding audience feedback is why her clients ask her to return to them again and again.

5 Tips to Boost Creativity and Innovation